Did anyone see the Today show this morning with Katie Couric? She's got 5-6 people on there, agreeing to wear a pedometer and walk 10K steps a day for a period of time.

After watching that segment, I thought, 'what the hell is going to inspire me to walk 10K steps a day?'

What do you do to get inspired to exercise in some way, everyday?

Does anyone have a successful mantra that you do to inspire yourself to do some form of exercise every single day, or

whatever routine you have for yourself.

Thanks.

I've tried the walking.....it works well for me if the weather is perfect, and nothing else gets in the way of my schedule...but I live in Michigan and I'm a mom of 2 little girls, so...you can guess how that pans out after awhile.

I've tried The Firm dvd's..... for whatever reasons I just can't make it through the whole session.

Then..I found a 25 cent/garage sale OLD Richard Simmons step VIDEO CASSETTE (1994)....and honestly, I love it...I look forward to it daily. Its a decent workout, I don't hate it like other exercises...and because of reading your post I'm going to put on the pedometer my MIL gave me for Christmas (.....!) and see if it comes anywhere close to 10K steps.

I guess what inspires me the most is that I'm 36 now, and I realize I'm going to have to work a little harder than when I was in my 20s. Atkins has worked wonders for me so far, but the time has come to tone myself up now....or I'll be stuck with my I'mAMommaBody. I also find the before/after pictures of those that are working out incredibly inspiring.

p.s. I've always enjoyed reading your posts, I still remember your Christmas/VISA gift card dilema.

Whenever I think of not exercising and I am in "excuse mode" I look at an old picture of myself from high school (20 years ago) when I was at my heaviest. Then I say "I'm NEVER going back" and I get off my butt and get moving.

Even now, two weeks after a car accident (I have whiplash), I am still doing what I can to be active - taking stairs, walking as much as I can, stretching.....

Look inside to find the reason you need. It's there!!!

Julie

For short term inspiration, I'll get on the bike for a coupe of weeks.

I do real well for 5-6 days and then fall.

I have yet to find something that will keep me inspired for the long haul.

Been waiting for many people to come forth and tell of their secret to staying with it... but what i'm seeing is....... no one has any problems with motivation.

^5 everyone!

Again, another 5 days rolled by, and I was doing so well, and then day 6 comes along, and I ate a whole strudel.

There's got to be something triggering this.

And there's got to be a way to fight it off.

Maybe this could be posted in an exercise forum, too? Might get more responses there.

Sounds like there are two problems going on? Is one connected to weekends? I have a whole different issue with weekends.

Re the exercise--my dogs get me going. I can blow them off for a while but then they start in on the guilt. "Hey, we never have any fun anymore..." and that will get me out the door. And they don't care about the weather.

I've also started hoop dancing, and I need to practice in between classes or else I'm wasting my class money.

And then--I don't try to do any one thing every day. I try to be active, and I need to be strong enough for sculpting and hauling heavy art around, and I look at the old ladies in my neighborhood who are housebound now in part because they did not exercise when they were in their 40s.

Re food: I've had a few experiments with flour in the past two years, virtually none with sugar. It makes me sick, truly.

I bike to work. I feel lucky because I live within commuting distance and even though I am in a small community many of my coworkers can only afford homes out of town. I get up get dressed for work sometimes I feel like I need to change because of the weather other times it's so nice it doesn't matter. It takes me twenty minutes to drive to work and park and walk to my office or twent minutes to bike right up to the front door. It gives me 40 minutes of exercise a day without cutting into any of my "free time". The benefits far outweigh the hassel 1) save on gas 2) don't need coffee in the morning 3) I can destress and leave the office at home before I face my husband 4) I get great and inspring ideas on route 5) It's easy to do 5-7 times a week.
I do need inspiration in the winter when biking is not an option

Pilotgal,
I am with you. Hubby laughed at me when I told him I was joining the gym.... again. Although he is very supportive, I can see that he was thinking "how long will it last this time". Over the years I have been in and out of gyms, not to mention all kinds of home exercise equipment and video tapes that ended up at the dump or goodwill.
My brother in law has been jogging every day for as long as I have known him. He tells me he doesn't feel right if he doesn't go for a jog. I have never gotten to the point where exercise has become so engrained in my daily routine.
But I'm really going to try and may be this time.....???

Sounds like you might be bored! I myself am bored and I know it is because I am not working...I quit my job a few weeks ago...and I know the solution is to get out there and find a new job! So, you have to find the source of your boredom and solve it!

I've posted this before. I walk to work. Nothing like beiing forced into exercise. I do 4 miles a day round trip....five days a week. Works fine!!!

Inspiration to walk? One word: SHOPPING! I owned a pedometer for a very short while and I found out that I walked over 16000 steps on an average shopping day.
Two days later I forgot the pedometer in a mall bathroom. I still walk a lot because it's cheap and easy exercise.

Yeah, I like that SHOPPING! I do that on weekends. Of course, I walk to the store. Just keep moving, even it's housework. That works just as well. My co workers going to and from work in their cars in winter say "Ooh, look at Rachel slogging through 2 feet of snow". In summer, the say "Ooh look at Rachel scurry home dodging lightning bolts" Such fun...I've been doing this 5 days a week for years.

Oh you guys are too funny!!! Shopping!!! Whodathunk?

I belong to L.A. Fitness! They have all kinds of goodies.. I live between two of them, in fact!!! Carry the little tag on my key chain!
(can't remember the last time i stepped in one)


I bought a Yoga ball.. Prettiest blue, huge, rubber ball you ever saw. It rolls around in the living room, or Child #2 rolls around on it, terrorizing my cat, Lily.

I have weights. They make excellent book ends. And they're a caribbean blue!!!!!!

I got so disillusioned trying on clothes recently, that I'm going to try again to make this work. I'm going to pull the ball out of the corner, put a video from the library into the tv and settle down and attempt some routine in pilates and yoga..

How's that?

I don't know how to supply motivation for you, but I do have some tips about consistency.

--Pick a "sacred time" for your workout--I mean NOTHING interferes with it. For most people, that's first thing in the morning, before anything else in your life wants you. If you're not a morning person, convert. Don't be in the position of making a decision every d**n day about whether or not you have time for a workout. You know what the usual answer will be!

--Make your workout totally convenient. As you've discovered, a gym membership doesn't do any good when you don't/can't get to the gym. When I roll out of bed in the morning (sometimes wearing my exercise clothes to bed!) and hit the workout space before I'm even awake enough to think about it, I call that convenient. Saves a commute--and I get a clean, private shower afterwards.

--Find something fun. I love my rebounder among other things. Put on that Motown beat, and jump around for thirty minutes. Nobody watching but the cat. Burn, baby, burn those calories.

I use my "yoga ball" as a chair at work. Keeps me activated all day long. You can't fall asleep sitting on that sucker.

Best wishes, PilotGal!
Barb